


tangled in the morning sun

by baeminhyuk



Category: BLACKPINK (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-01-31 07:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18586363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeminhyuk/pseuds/baeminhyuk
Summary: Lisa pulls the car away from the curb, laughs at the way Jennie turns up the radio, rests her feet on the dash, and dances in her seat when a song she loves comes through the speakers.This summer already feels like it’stheirs.





	tangled in the morning sun

**Author's Note:**

> or: the summertime au that no one really asked for. some context: the girls grew up together in jejudo, but jennie chose to move away to seoul around 3 years before the story. basically, jennie and lisa have a _lot_ of history. also, very minor chaesoo if you squint. 
> 
> [some](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-7W8YUwAASDdf.jpg) [visuals](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlmXI5LUYAE8XD5.jpg:large) [for](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAQFIFqVAAARM0t?format=jpg&name=large) [this](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_yzzo9UwAAAeSm?format=jpg&name=medium) [fic](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAQC_-_UYAIX0EE?format=jpg&name=medium) :) hope this one's okay

 

Lisa picks Jennie up in front of the airport, and she's standing there with a couple of bags at her feet, wringing her right hand with her left as the sun bounces off her skin and her hair blows in the wind. Jennie smiles when she sees her, and she winks from the driver’s seat before getting out and helping put her bags in the trunk of the car.

Jennie hops in, buckles her seatbelt and flips her sunglasses down over her nose as Lisa gets in and puts her hand on the wheel.

"Ready?" the younger girl asks, grinning at her, and Jennie nods just once, slipping her feet out of her flip flops.

"Let's go," she says.

Lisa pulls her stepdad’s Bentley away from the curb and into traffic, laughs at the way Jennie turns up the radio immediately, rests her feet on the dash, and dances in her seat when a song she loves comes through the speakers.

People are staring at them because they're two kids in this expensive car, and Jennie's  _gorgeous_ , hair whipping around her face and head tipped back against the seat.

"Pull over!" she cries suddenly, hitting Lisa’s arm a few times.

“Ni! I can't just pull over. We're in the middle of Jeju City at noon!" she laughs. "What?"

"We need Americanos! There's a Starbucks. _Pull over!_ "

Lisa’s still laughing as she pulls into a no parking zone and flips on her hazard lights. (As if anyone would ask her to move anyway.) She hands her a couple of crumpled bills from her pocket. "Go. Hurry!"

Jennie kisses her cheek, giggling as she sprints out of the car, and Lisa just shakes her head and watches as people stare at the beautiful Korean girl.

 

* * *

 

Jennie insists they stop at every roadside fruit or souvenir stand, charms people without even trying into giving her free berries, and she feeds them to Lisa as she laughs, because none of this is exactly _unexpected_. Jennie buys a straw cowboy hat, puts it on and looks like a million dollars as she walks back to the car with Lisa trailing behind her.

"It should not be taking us this long to get there," Lisa laughs as they pull back onto the road.

Jennie smiles and shoves at her arm. "Whatever! We have all summer, Lisa. We can do whatever we want."

Lisa’s sure that Jennie doesn't necessarily mean that the way she hears it.

She doesn't stop Jennie when she reaches for her hand on the gear shift. They're pretty quiet the rest of the drive, just music and wind and the sound of the tires on the road. Lisa runs her thumb over the band of the ring the other girl is wearing, the one she gave years ago, and Jennie taps her blue-polished toes on the dash in time with the music.

This summer already feels like it’s _theirs_.

 

* * *

 

Jennie’s grandma greets them at the door when Lisa pulls the car up to her summer house. She's smiling, but Jennie can tell her grandmother is wondering just what took them so long and why Jennie insisted on driving with Lisa in the first place.

"Hi, halmeoni!” Jennie chirps, walking over to hug her as Lisa lifts the bags from the car.

"You should have called, dear. It took you so long."

"Oh," Jennie giggles, looking at Lisa, who's just shaking her head. "We took the long way."

"Well, regardless, dinner is almost ready," Jennie’s grandmother says. “Lisa, will you be staying?"

"No, thank you, ma’am,” she says politely as some people come out to carry Jennie's bags into the house. "My mother is expecting me. Some other time, maybe."

"Yes, maybe," Jennie’s grandmother says, and Lisa sees Jennie roll her eyes at the way the woman puts her nose in the air just a little bit.

Jennie walks Lisa over to the car again, wrapping her arms around her as her grandmother looks on. "Thanks for driving."

"Thanks for coming with me," Lisa says, hand running down her back.

"Call me later?" she asks. It feels strange to say it, since they barely spoke all year, but she doesn't think there's anything she wants more right now than to spend the whole summer alone with Lisa.

"I will."

She kisses Lisa’s cheek for some reason, then runs back to the house and slips inside.

Lisa laughs when she's driving away and she gets her text; _Oh god HELP! Halmeoni is already driving me nuts! xo, J._

But it is kind of hard not to turn the car around and go back.

 

* * *

 

"Have you heard from Jisoo-unnie?” Lisa asks one day as they were walking through town. She's wearing some filmy summer dress over her bikini, and her hair is in a messy ponytail. Jennie has a loose floral shirt and denim shorts over hers and she's toying with the straw of her latte.

Jennie shakes her head. "Not since last week. Chaeyoung?”

The taller girl scoffs and shakes her head. “She's not answering."

"They're so messed up," Jennie laughs.

"Yeah," she says quietly.

But Lisa’s not really sure which is worse. Being apart and pretending you don't want to be together? Or being together and pretending you don't want to be together?

 

* * *

 

Two weeks into summer and she's tired of Jennie’s occasional sulking. Yes, it's only occasional, but it's annoying anyway, because Jennie Kim is not the kind of girl who sulks, and she's not about to let her start.

Lisa wrenches open the curtains in her room, sits down next to her on the bed and shakes her awake. Jennie groans and whines and covers her eyes, burying her face in the pillow as Lisa tries to get her up.

"Manoban, _no_. Leave me alone," she mumbles.

"No. You're getting up," Lisa tells her. "And no arguing, because I promised your grandmother I'd wake you up, and she kinda scares me a little, so please. For me?"

Jennie groans and turns onto her back again so she can look at her. Lisa, of course, looks perfectly put together, hair a little messy, top a little wrinkled, but perfectly _Lisa_ anyway. And she's wearing this grin like she knows Jennie’s going to do what she asks her to do so long as she’s giving her _that_ smile.

"I hate you, you know that?" she asks, grabbing Lisa’s hand for no reason. "You just had to play the _'for me'_ card. It's almost pathetic."

The younger girl chuckles and weaves their fingers together. "You love me, and yeah, you made me play that card. And..." She stops to think about it. She needs to sweeten the deal. "I'll buy you coffee."

"Iced."

"Whatever you like, J,” Lisa says, as if that's not always the way it goes anyway. "C'mon. No more wallowing."

"I'm not wallowing," she replies as she stretches. Lisa can't help but look at her as she pulls her hands away and stretches her arms wide. When they fall back onto the bed, Jennie’s palm is resting flat against Lisa’s hip. "I'm just sleeping in."

"You're wallowing. Over Jongin. He's from _Suncheon_ ,” she says, doing her best Jisoo impression. Jennie giggles and lets her pull the sheets away. "Get up, Jennie. We'll go to the beach."

She sighs and gets out of bed. Lisa promptly lays down, which makes her scowl at the Thai girl. "Seriously? You're getting into my bed just as I'm getting out of it?"

Lisa arches her brow and leans up on her elbows. "You'd rather I get in when you're in it?"

Jennie giggles and arches her back, hanging onto the frame of the bathroom door and bending her leg at the knee, her toes pointed behind her. "You know I like to cuddle," she says girlishly.

The door closes moments later, and Lisa’s just shaking her head.

After she's showered, she pulls her wet hair into two messy pigtails, slips on a pair of shorts and a white shirt over her bathing suit, and grabs Lisa’s hand, pulling her out of the house.

They drive into town (it's pretty sweet to have her stepdad's Bentley for the whole summer; it's not like anyone else was using it) and she buys her iced coffee from her favorite place, as promised, and they window shop for things they'll never need. They have fish cake for lunch at this place she discovered about two summers ago, and get two straws so they can share the biggest soda known to man. Jennie wants Coke, but Lisa wants Mountain Dew, so she convinces Jennie (it doesn't take much) to mix them and they both pretend it's not totally disgusting.

When they make it to the beach, they're both sweating a little and Lisa pulls off her oversized shirt, revealing a tank top underneath, and heads for the water as Jennie lays out a blanket Lisa somehow had in the trunk of her dad's car.

When Lisa walks back over to her after cooling down, she actually laughs to herself as Jennie looks at her. She's so damn beautiful. Lisa’s never lost sight of that. But there are a few guys who are apparently noticing it, too, so she walks over to where she's laying and runs a hand through her hair, spraying Jennie with water and making her squeal.

"Lisa!" Jennie cries, grabbing onto Lisa’s calf and pulling so she lands on her behind on the sand. "Jerk."

"It's just water," Lisa reminds her, sitting down next to her. She bends her knees and rests her elbows on them. Jennie sticks her tongue out and she laughs, because Jennie’s so fucking _cute_ sometimes. Lisa doesn't know how she's gone without her for so long. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" she asks, eyes still closed.

"Jennie."

"Lisa."

"Jongin."

" _Lisa,_ " she sighs. "What's there to talk about? We broke up. And for a reason. I'm just dealing with it."

"But you're _not_ ," she insists. She turns toward Jennie a little more.

"It's only been a couple weeks. It's not like I'm writing him love letters or anything," she laughs. Jennie knows she's not going to let her joke her way out of this. "Why do you care so much anyway?"

She rolls her eyes and reaches over, toying with the string of Jennie’s bikini at her hip. "Because I care about _you_."

All Jennie can do is smile at her. "You're kind of annoyingly sweet, you know that?"

"It's a blessing and a curse," Lisa says matter-of-factly. Jennie giggles and sits up, leaning against her, head resting on her shoulder and her hair tickling the taller girl’s back. "If you wanna talk..."

Lisa lets the offer hang in the air and Jennie slips her arm through hers. “You know where to call me.”

She wraps her fingers around Jennie’s and they sit there for a while, until Jennie gets bored and decides it's time to go watch movies in the air conditioning at her place. And Lisa gives her what she wants, because she kind of _always_ gives her what she wants.

 

* * *

 

Her parents are in the city for one thing or another, and Jennie’s grandma is preoccupied with some event, so Jennie ends up at Lisa's huge house, just the two of them alone with a 12-pack of cheap beer Lisa found in the fridge. They found two keepsake boxes of photographs, so they're sitting on her bed with _Sleepless in Seattle_ playing on the television they're not really paying any attention to.

Jennie is three beers in, buzzed and giggly and adorable, and Lisa is less affected by the alcohol as of yet. But she's just enjoying Jennie, because she's so easy to enjoy.

"Oh, my god!" she cries, holding up a photo, waving it in the air. "My eighth birthday!"

"Oh, no," Lisa groans, reaching over to take the picture. "That was terrible."

"It was _Grease_ themed, Lalisa! It was _amazing_."

"It was stupid!" Lisa says laughingly. Lisa looks down at a photo of the four of them — Lisa, Jennie, Chaeyoung, and Jisoo — the younger girls in black jeans, white t-shirts and little leather jackets (in _July_ ) and the older girls in their big skirts and scarves around their necks. "I was so mad at you for making me wear this."

"Only until the milkshake bar came out. Then you _loved_ me," Jennie teases lightly, poking at her thigh with her index finger. “And remember how Jisoo-unnie convinced Chaeng to walk around saying Kenickie gave her a hickey! She even rubbed some lipstick on her neck!”

She literally collapses, giggling, and Lisa can only laugh when she presses her forehead against her thigh, just above her knee. Lisa smoothes her hand over her back until she sits up again.

"What do you wanna do for your birthday next year?" Lisa asks. Jennie brushes the hair from her face and shrugs.

"I don't know," she says quietly, looking down at the photo of herself as a kid, happy, smiling with her best friends, wearing purple eyeshadow and a red ribbon in her hair. "Let's just do this," she insists, waving an arm around the room. "Just me and you. We'll... we'll be lowkey."

Lisa laughs at her. "Jennie-ssi, you don't _do_ lowkey. It's like, impossible for you to be lowkey."

"Whatever!" she cries, throwing her hands in the air. "I just want it to be me and you."

Lisa nods and the older girl reaches over to crack open another beer, sifting through the photos. She’s looking through the box, too, as Annie listens to Sam speak on the radio, _“I knew it the first time I touched her. It was like coming home, only to no home I’d ever known."_   She comes across one picture, laughs and nudges Jennie with her knee.

"Check _that_ out," Lisa says. "Got you naked."

"Manoban!" she squeals, grabbing the photo. "We're, like, three here."

"And in the bathtub together." Lisa wiggles her eyebrows and Jennie, for whatever reason, covers her mouth with her hand. Lisa kisses her palm and she pulls it away. "You do realize you've had the same hair all your life."

"I like it."

"I do, too," Lisa says, reaching out to toy with a lock of it. "I'm just saying."

She turns to her with a little grin on her lips, and Lisa knows she's about to make fun of her. She kind of loves that she can tell when Jennie’s about to make jokes with her.

Jennie takes a sip of her beer and then runs her fingers through her bangs. "This is kind of new," she says quietly.

"I've had it, like, all of this year and half of last year,” Lisa reminds her. Jennie shrugs her shoulder.

"It wasn't like this when I left," she almost whispers. They tend not to talk about her leaving. No one talks about her leaving. (It leads too easily to the night before she left.) "I like it. It's kind of... It's sexy, Lisa." She gives her a lopsided grin as she pushes her hair off her forehead just slightly, and Lisa tucks a lock of hers behind her ear. "Li."

Lisa doesn't really know why she kisses Jennie, but it feels right, and it feels good, and it's _Jennie_ , and she's just staring at her with these _eyes_ when she pulls away.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

Jennie smiles and shakes her head a little, leaning across Lisa’s body to set her beer on the bedside table. She takes Lisa’s face in her hands and the last thing the younger girl remembers before she kisses her again is Jennie pulling the photo of them out of her hands and tossing it back into the pile with all the rest.

 

* * *

 

(She gets her naked again.)

 

* * *

 

Jennie can tell Lisa’s awake without even looking at her. That's the thing about sleeping with someone you've known your entire life.

She's just waiting to hear what she has to say about how their evening went, about the fact that Lisa’s wearing just her underwear and she's wearing just Lisa’s shirt.

She doesn't regret a thing; never could with Lisa. Everything with her has a strange tendency to feel something close to _perfect_ , even when it's wrong. And she thinks that maybe those are the only examples she has — when things were supposed to be wrong but didn't feel like it at all.

The thing that scares Jennie is that everything between them always feels very final, too. Very 'at last' or 'happily ever after'. It terrifies her because she doesn't think it's very realistic to think that way. She's made too many rash mistakes, hurt everyone too many times.

It shouldn't be this _easy_ to get everything you've ever wanted.

"Quit pretending to be asleep," she says, jabbing her index finger into Lisa’s ribs.

"Ow," she laughs as Lisa grabs her hand. "I didn't wanna wake you up."

"What time is it?"

"Doesn't matter," Lisa says, and Jennie thinks she's right. "Jennie, what..."

"Please don't say it," Jennie insists, pulling away from her a bit. She sits up and her hand comes to rest on her thigh. "I don't want to have _that_ talk just yet."

She smiles at Jennie, leans her head back against the pillow. "What are we doing?"

Jennie scowls. "You don't listen very well." Lisa shrugs one shoulder, moves her thumb over the bare skin of the older girl’s leg. "Can't we just have fun? Together?"

"Yeah, but... are we..."

Jennie leans over, stretches herself out half on top of Lisa. She kisses her jaw, chin, the side of her mouth. "Will you be my summer fling?" she asks playfully.

"Ni," Lisa laughs. "I'm serious."

"Me too," Jennie insists. Lisa’s hand is already tracing patterns on Jennie’s hip beneath her shirt.

She can't really argue. She can't say she doesn't want to spend her whole summer, with Jennie, like this. So she nods and kisses her.

 

* * *

 

Lisa’s swimming laps in her pool and Jennie’s laying on her stomach with her bikini untied and her back bared to the sun. She's listening to some songs on her phone and taking sips of water. It's hot out, and over her music, she can hear the splashing water in the pool as Lisa swims.

It's been a little over a week since they started this... arrangement. Well, since they started sleeping together. They haven't changed other than that. They still spend almost every day together, and they still talk about all the same things. Lisa still teases her every chance she gets, and Jennie still lets her.

Jennie likes it, this summer, doing basically nothing with the one person she thinks she's missed most of all for the last... For a long time. It's nice, just being around Lisa again. There's no discomfort or awkward moments where they have to wonder how well they know each other. They've always known each other best. They're alike, but different enough that they don't drive each other insane.

There's always been a little (huge) place in her heart for Lisa. Always. She doesn't think she ever wants that to change.

She doesn't hear Lisa getting out of the pool until she lays down on the lounge chair next to hers, skin wet and hair slicked back. She opens one eye and watches as Lisa steals a sip of her water.

"Good swim?" she asks. She doesn't realize until just then that her eyes are on Lisa’s body.

"Yeah," Lisa says distractedly. "You should have come in."

Lisa watches her face light up, and she knows Jennie’s about to suggest something crazy that'll make her laugh.

"We should go skinny dipping," she says, like it's the best idea ever.

"Jennie," Lisa laughs, watching as she holds her towel to her chest and props herself up onto her elbows. "It's 1:00 in the afternoon and my mom is inside."

"Oh," Jennie pouts. She looks at her again, her eyes sparking mischievously. "Later?"

Lisa really wants to say no. There are always people around her place at all hours of the day. But then, against her better judgment, she's getting up, towel still held against herself, and laying on top of her. Jennie kisses the side of her mouth and Lisa runs her hands up her bare back.

"Maybe," Lisa murmurs, leaning up to kiss her.

"Maybe definitely yes?"

Lisa laughs a little at the adorable expression on Jennie’s face, the way her lips look a little pinker than usual and her smile is too cute to ever ignore.

"You really know how to get your way with me," Lisa says, gently slipping her hand into Jennie’s black locks to pull her close again.

"I know," she almost whispers as they trade kisses.

"'S'not fair," Lisa mumbles.

Jennie rests her head against Lisa chest and closes her eyes as she feels one hand moving along the small of her back.

"You always get your way with me, too," she says quietly. She feels Lisa’s little laugh through her whole body.

"Not always," Lisa reminds her.

Lisa kisses away the tension that comes with referencing the fact that she wanted Jennie before, _so_ _bad_ , yet she moved away, and somehow to convince Jennie that she didn't want her back, too.

 

* * *

 

It's the hottest night of the year so far, and Jennie’s standing at the shoreline with her hand squeezing Lisa’s tightly. They’re both wearing their bathing suits and swim shorts, but that's not why they came here. The air is thick and muggy, and her hair is sticking to her sweaty skin. She kissed Lisa’s neck earlier and tasted salt, along with what Lisa usually tastes like.

Jennie doesn't mind. She's always done well with the heat, despite the amount of complaining she might do from time to time. She likes the sun, the way it colors her skin and how it feels on her face and that it brings out a few of her freckles. It lightens her hair and brightens her personality and makes everything a little better somehow.

But at night time, with Lisa next to her and a bit of a breeze pushing against her skin, the summer feels very, very different.

"Are you backing out?" Lisa asks, and Jennie’s head snaps over so she can look at her.

"No way!"

"You're hesitating."

Jennie moves to stand in front of Lisa, the taller girl undoes the knot of her own black top at her back before reaching for the ties at her nape. Her eyes are locked with Lisa’s and she can tell that the other girl is fighting the urge to look down. She drops her red bikini top onto the sand and pushes down her bottoms. Before she runs to the water, she tugs the pockets of Lisa’s shorts to get them off her hips, and she's squealing as Lisa chases after her.

They could totally get arrested for this, but then Lisa's arm snakes around her waist, pulling her out into deeper water with her, and the water is cool between their warm bodies as they kiss, standing chest-deep in the ocean. It's a little hard to think or breathe or focus on anything other than Lisa’s hands on her skin.

Getting into trouble seems like it might almost be _worth it_.

 

* * *

 

"Happy?" Lisa asks one night after they've left some party, gone back to her place and laid down on the lawn in the back where you can see nothing but sky if you look straight up.

Jennie tangles their fingers together and kisses Lisa’s shoulder through her shirt (the one they both know she'll wake up in tomorrow morning).

"Yeah," she says quietly.

Lisa thinks that Jennie means more than just right now, laying here with her. Lisa thinks she means in general, this summer, _her life_ , even. She's glad Jennie’s happy with her, of course, but the thing with Jennie is that you could never really tell. Lisa could, because she knows her, but she's gotten a little harder to read as they’ve gotten older. She can put on a pretty smile that people are too taken with to see is fake, and she can carry on small talk without anyone seeing she isn't interested. She doesn't lie about how she's doing, but Lisa thinks sometimes that she might not tell just _anyone_.

Right now, Lisa knows she's telling her the truth. And she's really, really glad she's the one she's with right now.

"Which one's that again?" she asks.

Lisa kisses her temple, stops thinking so hard, and continues making up the names of constellations above them. Jennie knows Lisa doesn't know anything about astronomy, but she keeps asking anyway.

She really just likes to hear Lisa talk sometimes. She missed her voice a lot when she was away or when they weren't speaking or when they grew apart. She doesn't want to have to miss it anymore or ever again.

 

* * *

 

"What do you want to be when you’re older?” Jennie asks, laying in her messy bed in the middle of the afternoon, the windows open and blowing hot air inside and making the air conditioning kind of pointless.

Lisa stops trailing her hand up and down her bare side. "Happy," Lisa answers after a moment's contemplation.

“ _Lalisa,_ ” she laughs. Lisa kisses her temple. Lisa loves it when she calls her that. "I'm serious."

"So'm I." She pulls away and looks up at her. The days she wears just mascara are her favorite. She's so _pretty_. "Why can't I want to be happy?"

"No, you should," she admits, settling against her. "Of course." Lisa has to put her hand over hers to stop it from gliding over her hip. That's a little distracting. "I mean as a job."

Lisa shrugs. "Dunno. Probably in dad’s business or something," Lisa says.

Jennie sits up, grabs the sheet as an afterthought, holds it to her chest. Lisa smirks when Jennie glares at her playfully for obviously staring at her chest. As if Lisa could be blamed.

"But is that what you want to do?" she asks. "Your parents want that for you, but what do _you_ want?"

Lisa doesn't like this conversation. It forces her to think outside of summer with this girl, and really, what in the world could Lisa want other than this? She's in her bed and she thinks she just wants her, but she also knows Jennie’ll freak out and leave and tell her this is over, and she can't let that happen. The rest of the summer will be awful if she doesn't get to spend it with her. Lisa just wants to be with _her_.

"Dancing, photography? I don't know, haven't really thought about it," Lisa admits. She's not _lying_.

Jennie actually smiles, like she's relieved or something, and runs her fingertip down Lisa’s chest. "Me neither," she says quietly.

"Well," Lisa says, sitting up and leaning forward so her lips are just inches from hers, "what do you want, like, 10 minutes from now?"

"Lisa," she giggles, and Lisa slips a hand into her hair.

"Too far in the future?" Lisa teases, brushing her lips against hers. "How 'bout five minutes?"

Jennie laughs and lets her lay her back on the bed, pull the sheet away and move her lips across her skin. "You pick," she murmurs. Lisa breathes out a laugh, hot against her collarbone, positions herself over her. "You always have the best ideas, Lisa-ya.”

Lisa tries not to put too much stock into her thinking that this is _the best idea_.

 

* * *

 

It doesn't really surprise Lisa how much time they spend at the beach. What’s a little surprising is that they spend _so_ much time there at night. But her grandmother's house is usually the gathering place for the older gen of people, sipping makgeolli cocktails and sitting around the huge living room, gossiping about whoever doesn't show. Lisa's house is usually crawling with her family members, different ones showing up for weeks at a time, and after Lisa puts in her time with them, the acceptable minimum, Lisa takes off with Jennie and they drive around with the top down, going nowhere and sipping cold lemonade.

They usually end up at the same part of the beach. Sometimes, Jisoo will call Jennie at the exact moment they get there (Lisa really wants to know how she does that), so Jennie walks along the water and talks while Lisa sits on the sand and watches her. Sometimes Lisa calls Chaeyoung, figures she can get her conversation out of the way at the same time Jennie is.

Mostly, Lisa just wants to sit with Jennie between her legs and to play with her hair as they talk and fool around, and to be alone with her, away from everyone and everything. And she usually looks so fucking _stunning_ at night, with the sun going down and making her look super tanned and bringing out the brown in her eyes. Sometimes, Lisa thinks she loves her.

A lot of times, Lisa thinks she's  _in love_ withher.

"When we were little,” she says, digging her feet into the sand a little deeper. She watches her silver anklet (Jennie bought it for her in town one day) get buried, then pulls it back out again. "I thought I'd marry you."

Jennie bites her lip, knowing that's kind of a big confession. They don't talk about _them_. They talk about everything but.

"Yeah?" Jennie asks. She glances over her shoulder and sees her nod. "And now?"

"Ni," she laughs. Jennie's not joking. She wants to know what she thinks about them _now_. "I’m not quite sure, but I..."

"Well, I'm only 22 and you're only 21,” Jennie says, grabbing both of Lisa's arms so she can slip them around her waist, letting the younger girl's thumbs graze the sides of her chest over her tank top. "There's still time."

Lisa smiles and buries her face into the hollow of Jennie's neck. "Promise?"

Jennie giggles softly and she turns to her, so she can press a kiss at the tip of her nose. "Promise."

Neither of them really know what that means, but they both know it means _something_.

 

* * *

 

Lisa’s playing with Kuma outside, no bottoms on and grass stains on her knees. She’s sweating, laughing and shouting, lifting Kuma up in the air every so often and making a big show of it every time.

She runs over to where Jennie’s laying on her stomach with her legs in the air and her shirt under her elbows, flops onto her back and looks over at the other girl. Lisa smiles and runs her hand down and around her neck, collecting the sweat there and wiping it on the grass.

“Kuma loves me,” Lisa declares proudly.

Jennie kisses Lisa’s arm, just because it's right there next to her, and lays down with her head on her shirt. It smells like her, like summer. She likes it.  _Loves_ it. She doesn't know how to ever really give it up, being this close to Lisa.

Lisa slips her hand into Jennie’s and interlaces their fingers together as they lay there in the sun.

Jennie thinks, some days, that maybe eventually, they'll get it right.

 

* * *

 

The end of summer comes far too quickly, and Lisa knows Jennie well enough to recognize that she gets really down at the thought of going back to Seoul, back to books and contracts.

She tries to keep her preoccupied, takes her to the fair on the beach that only the 'townies' go to. Jennie wears her paint-splattered shorts and a souvenir t-shirt from the night market and tells her to win her a prize. Lisa does. Close to a hundred dollars and a sore throwing arm later, Lisa knocks down all the bottles and wins her a big stuffed octopus holding a daisy, and she spends the rest of the day making fun of Jennie for loving it so much. _'Why would an octopus have a daisy?'_ she asks, and Jennie scowls as she eats her cotton candy, and tells her that her octopus can have whatever it wants.

Then they go to Lisa’s empty house and get tipsy on her stepdad’s expensive wine from the cellar, tangle themselves up sitting on top of the table in her huge dining room.

"Thanks," Jennie says quietly after they've been sitting there quietly for a moment. Lisa’s legs are extended and spread, and she's sitting between them. She's facing her, her legs on either side of Lisa with her hands holding the taller girl’s shirt in her fists.

"For what?"

"Summer."

Lisa laughs, pulls at her hair a little so she squeals. "Clearly, I masterminded the _whole_ thing," Lisa says sarcastically, and Jen rolls her eyes. "Responsible for the whole season, really. I'm pretty impressive."

Jennie giggles, moves a little closer so she's pressed right up against her, forehead resting on her shoulder. "Lisa."

"'S'not over, you know," Lisa reminds her. "Two more weeks."

"Yeah," she whispers. "Two weeks." Her fingers slip through Lisa’s hair, brushing some strands idly away from her face. She looks at those instead of her eyes. "Then school and work and winter."

"Don't pout," Lisa teases, squeezing her hip. Jennie kisses the underside of her jaw and puts her head on her shoulder again, turns her face away. "Doesn't have to end."

"Oh?" she laughs. "Since you're in charge of the seasons?"

"It's sunny in the fall," she reminds her. Lisa pushes her away so she can look at Jennie, then lays her on her back and sits on her ankles between Jennie’s legs. "We're good in the sun."

"It rained a little," she reminds her, nose scrunched up cutely.

"Oh yeah," Lisa says. Lisa smiles down at her and drags one knuckle along the skin between her shorts and shirt. "Good in that, too."

"And there was that really cold day."

Lisa nods and Jennie laughs a bit and tries to get closer to her. "Yeah. I mean, we survived it." She nods, and Lisa figures it's a good time to lay down between her thighs. Lisa brushes the hair from Jennie’s face. "I guess that leaves just the snow that messes things up."

"Hmm," she says pensively. Lisa kisses her palm before she moves it to rest on the back of her neck. "I don't _hate_ the snow."

Lisa shakes her head. "Skiing, snowball fights, hot chocolate. It’s not so bad." Jennie bites her lip. "We could try it."

Lisa’s heart is beating way too fast, and she feels a little out of breath with Jennie beneath her, looking up at her like that. And she doesn't even care that they're on a table and kind of drunk and maybe Jennie’ll change her mind in the morning or something. Wouldn't be the first time. But really, it would be the first time if she actually agreed to _try_ , to make something work which they never took seriously enough before.

"We could," Jen says quietly, realizing for the first time just how tightly she's holding Lisa to her. "Do you want to?"

The other girl grins, leans down and kisses her. "Yeah." Jennie smiles, hums against her lips and bends her knees just a little to get her closer. "We should..." Lisa kisses her again, and it's really, _really_ distracting, the way she's warm and soft and fucking perfect beneath her. “Ni, we're on a table."

Jennie giggles and buries her face in Lisa’s neck. "We could move."

"Family dinner would be _really_ uncomfortable if we didn't," Lisa says, rolling off her a bit.

She sits up, slips her arm under Lisa’s to keep her close. "Am I invited?"

Lisa doesn't know what to say to that, really, because Jennie never makes plans like that. Sure, it's hypothetical or whatever the right word is here, but she's still telling her that sometime in the future she wants to have dinner with her family, and that is something new and, Lisa thinks, really, really _good_.

"Of course you are," Lisa says. She stands, grabs Jennie’s hands and pulls her across the wood until her feet are on the floor. "Whenever you want."

Jennie smiles all wide and puts her hands on her shoulders, leans in to kiss her. "Enough talking."

Jennie nods and lets herself really realize how much Lisa loves the way she tucks herself against her as they walk. She slips her hand into the Thai girl’s and holds onto her tightly, leans her head against her shoulder so her hair brushes the back of her arm. They make it to her room without kissing again, which is some kind of record, since Lisa usually backs her against the wall as they go up the stairs, or she kisses Lisa’s neck once and it turns into them making out at the foot of the stairs for 10 minutes. Part of her wonders how they ever get _anything_ done.

"Wait," Lisa says, once she's got both their shirts off and they're about thirty seconds away from losing all sense of logic.

"What?" she asks breathily, impatiently.

"You love me?" Lisa grins and watches Jennie’s eyes sparkle in the light of the tall white candle she lit. "I do," the older girl nods, runs her hands up Lisa’s back. "Feels good," Lisa murmurs, inching herself closer still.

"Lisa," Jennie whispers.

(That feels really good, too.)

 

* * *

 

They leave Jeju Island the way they came, in the Bentley with the top down and their hands joined over the gearshift. Jennie’s toenails are bright red and her skin is a few shades darker than it was two months ago, and she sings along to the radio, turns up the volume any time a song she loves comes on.

"Work and school don't start for another few days," she says as they pull into the city. Lisa glances at her. She loves the way Lisa looks in her aviators. "I don't want to go home yet."

"So don't," Lisa says easily, shrugging one shoulder. "Come home with me."

Jennie leans over and kisses her when they're stopped at a red light, and for the first time, August doesn't feel as much like the end of summer as it does the beginning of _something else_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from ['summer is over'](https://open.spotify.com/track/54GVNiArp6yIpyMvoWVnTW?si=McstWi8jQ0ufWkXvJWg8WQ) by jon mclaughlin and that dialogue about the seasons came from listening to taeyeon's ['four seasons'](https://open.spotify.com/track/4ytyLpIwUXbdFsNOvgNnmP?si=e7UREi6uStelDd33XUzwdg) for 2 weeks straight haha
> 
> sorry btw for the very niche references to grease and sleepless in seattle, they're two of my favorite films (i'm an old soul). anyway, let me know what you guys think in the comments! thanks for reading as always :)
> 
> p.s. the [new ep](https://open.spotify.com/album/2Pz8VAMiGc9UW1rrbBRDuO?si=mrtsidEvTnKECgmLtk5N4A) (cough especially jennie and lisa's verse in ktl cough) + blackpinkchella gave me life. let's never stop supporting them!


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